I made an itch.io account to tell you I adored this.
I had a hard time finding games of this niche that filled the void of the Zero Escape games - not to blast them, but they didn't quite have what I was looking for. I played the Zero Escape games for the ultimate ending, and while I came to Danganronpa for the mystery in the first game, I stayed and played the others for the school mode. Why? I'm a sentimental galah, not a sadist. The pain the characters go through doesn't mean anything if there's no character development or a way out, otherwise it's just a horror film.
The Game of Fourtune had 'heart', for lack of a better word. There's a drive to get over the line in every way possible, come hell or highwater, and what kept me going was to get that character development and that way out.
You bastard, I laughed at throwaway gags I shouldn't have done. I had to pause one game because the concept reminded me of a Monty Python sketch. I couldn't stop laughing and had to go watch it to get it out of my system. I even gasped at how intensely personal some of the games got. I loved the 'odd friendship' moments and the little character call-backs the most because I'm sappier than I want to admit. You're entirely right in that no one was entirely unsympathetic, and strangely, I needed that.
I almost want to ask ridiculous questions about the characters for fanfiction ideas...I don't write fanfiction.
Thank you from an Australian chick who's probably too old to call herself one.